Races & Places with azsungoddessRunning & Racing around the country

Last weekend, on the night before my half marathon, I thought occurred to me. It occurred to me as I was stuffing myself silly with pasta, meatballs and bread. The question that popped into my mind was "is all this really necessary?"

After all, it was only a half, right? I do long runs around that long where I haven't done this full on carb load routine. Something about a RACE brings full on panic. I feel like if I don't top myself off with every trace of bread that I can find, that my race will suffer. The truth is, I felt almost ill afterwards. Like I had totally overdone it. Do our bodies really need all that?

According to this article from Runner's World, carb loading can work for you, but you need to do it right. Be strategic, do it for at least a week before your race (not just the night before). In the end, yes there is science to support that it's worth it.

Bottom line, I need to broaden my approach to eating carbs before a race and not act like I'm cramming for a test (literally!). I'll try this approach when I run the Hilton Head Half Marathon in a few weeks.

I will say that even though the approach I took wasn't the best, I miraculously had one of my best half marathon finishes ever! I would credit it more to my delicious pre-race cappuccino than the bread and pasta the night before. Yay for coffee!

On January 18th, I ran my 4th Rock n Roll Arizona Half Marathon, and it was my best one yet! In fact, out of the 37 half marathons I've completed, this one came in at #3 in terms of finish times!

We are so blessed here in Arizona with fantastic winter weather. However, in January, you never know what you're going to get. Luckily for us, this year was picture-perfect weather for the race.

I was very disappointed that I didn't participate in RNRAZ last year. I went so far as to look for race entries on Craigs List at the last minute, but to no avail. So I vowed I wouldn't miss out this year. I'm so glad I listened to myself!

To kick things off, my awesome running group, #RunEatTweetAZ, held a social meetup/lunch the day before near the expo. We had almost 40 people show up, and it was fun to connect with both locals and other runners & bloggers who were running the race.

I made the very wise choice to take the light rail to the race this time. It was the best decision ever! I have had many traffic issues in the past. Since I live less than 15 miles from the start area, I decided it was not worth the drama. I arrived more than an hour early for a 7:50 AM start. I discovered that I had time to hit up Starbucks before the race. That was my second best decision. I got to sit and sip and chat with other runners and spectators and just relax. Not to mention the awesome caffeine boost! I had very low expectations for this race. Even though I have been running literally every day for 7 weeks, my pace has been off. I figured I'd be lucky just to stay under 2 hours.

Then it was time to head to the corrals for a selfie with the other #RunEatTweetAZ runners.:

At the start line with our Run Eat Tweet AZ Founder and friends!

This was the calmest start for the race yet. The corrals were not overcrowded, there was no excessive fanfare, we just had a wave start and headed out. Nice and smooth.

I felt a surprising amount of energy, not sure if that delicious cappuccino had anything to do with it or not! Seriously, I thought there was no way I could keep this up. I was cruising around 8:20 splits for the first few miles. The race is totally flat until around mile 9. I didn't feel like I had to dodge a lot of people, which was great. That is one of my pet peeves.

I was able to keep it up, even at the "hilly" part from mile 9-10. It's so pretty that it does provide a slight distraction from the pain!

The final time? 1:52:51! It was 12 minutes faster than the last time I did this race! Yippee!

It was crowded at the finish area, but I worked my way over to the beer tent (naturally) to enjoy my beer that I earned. By then it was about 65 and sunny. Glorious!

I'm so glad I did the race this year. We did have a brief scare that the medals would not arrive on time, but thank heavens, they did! And I remembered that the medal is part of a 4-year medal series where each one will fit together to make one large medal. So now I'm pretty much committed to the next 3 years!

So I made the resolution this January to get back on the portion control bandwagon and attempt to lose the 10 pounds I regained last year, plus a little more. I was motivated, ready, and had all the tools I needed. There was just one problem…my husband is skinny.

When I start these manic all-or-nothing calorie counting adventures, I go totally strict and want to be in control of all of it, or feel like I won’t succeed. I plan out as many meals as possible. However, in a household where we both work full time and have a 9 yr old, it’s not always realistic (or wanted) that I would do ALL of the grocery shopping and ALL of the cooking. The other night my husband decided he was going to make us turkey burgers for dinner. Great! Imagine the horror, though, when I got home and saw a tray full of French fries and tater tots he made as a side dish. Not the tots! NOOOOOO! Can’t. Resist. The. Tots! I will start out by saying that I’m quite lucky in that for the most part my husband likes to eat healthy. He loves fish (I don’t) and even enjoys salads for dinner once a week. All that being said, he’s a big fan of a heavy carb as a side dish and likes to have beer before, during and after dinner which is also tempting for me to join in. When he cooks he also likes to dish me up large portions because he knows I’m a big eater (even though I’m trying not to be these days).

My son inherited his dad's body type - tall and skinny. I'm thoroughly jealous that he has that natural shut off switch that I somehow learned to override and no longer seem to hear it or feel it. He gets to enjoy grilled cheese, chips, macaroni and cheese, pizza and ice cream every night for dessert and still stays at the very low end of the chart for weight.

So what’s a girl to do? He mocks me when I bust out my measuring cups and spoons to portion everything out. That’s just not how he rolls. I often have to ask him when he's made dinner – “now tell me EXACTLY what you put in here”. He just looks at me like I’m crazy. I tally up every ingredient for calories, fat and protein and log my serving into My Fitness Pal. Any tips for those of us who are trying to watch what we eat but live with people who don’t need to?

Last week I joined the #SweatPink#noexcuses challenge. It's been cool and motivating to see everyone sharing their workouts, recipes and other great ideas!

I saw this madlib and thought oh how fun, I haven't done one of these since I was a kid! But when it really came time to try to write mine, I was surprised at how difficult it seemed to identify - what are my excuses? what is holding me back? So here is what I discovered. Join the #SweatPink #noexcuses community and create your own madlib!

Hey 2015, it’s me, Emily This year I would like to de-stress, _get my weight under control_, and start trail running. It would also be super duper awesome if I also did _lost those pesky 15pounds__ this year. It’s not a resolution, though, just a reminder to myself to try and have the best year yet because I’m not getting any younger!. The thing I am looking forward to most this year is my sister coming to spend the holidays with us I’ll use the one thing that truly gets me out of bed in the morning which is_my internal alarm clock__to help me get up, get de-stressed, (verb) and get after my #NoExcuses 2015.Speaking of excuses (ahem), my very favorite excuse is I deserve to indulge and I have used it to get out of doing eating healthy on more than a gazillion (number) occasions. I vow to move my body and be more healthy this year even if it means I have to find other ways to reward myself. Even if my alarm clock gets eaten by the dog in the middle of the night, I’ll still wake up early. I will stop blaming my son [ex: kids, dog, husband] for eating the rest of the chips when everyone knows it was really me. My fear of being cold[job, hair, car, husband, kids] are not the reason I make excuses. I will show my self [same as before] who’s boss this year and get myrun [type of sweaty activity] on I know that any kind of workout[type of workout] is better than sitting on my booty eating chips. [noun] I will reward myself by splurging on a manicure or facial.#NoExcuses 2015 has just begun and already I am imagining myself a winner. I can’t wait to rock a Zeal Hoodie (article of clothing) from Augusta Active. I can’t wait till my sweaty friends are jealous of how fresh, clean and glowing (adj) I am between workouts with help from ShowerPill body wipes. I can see myself rocking burpees [yoga pose / workout move] in new Rock the Course Leggings [article of clothing from Actio926] from Actio926 and looking fit and fly while doing it. And of course, I’ll be taking my workouts to the next level and improving myabs[noun] with my new ActivMotion Bar to help me train for my next half marathon [distance] race with Sasquatch Racing. Oh, and let’s not forget how amazing my hoodie [article of clothing] will smell in my / during my run [favorite type of workout] after washing with some WIN Detergent. And lastly, I’ll keep rocking my 2015 with clean eats and nutrition from Beaming with Health!

I just had a fantastic race yesterday at Rock n Roll Arizona, so I'd say I'm well on my way to achieving my goals for 2015!

I often say I'm never going to do something, then end up eating my words. I said I would never run a marathon, and of course that happened. I also said I'd never run a Ragnar Relay race, but here I am, registered to do my first one next month!

For those of you unfamiliar with how Ragnar works, it's a 200 mile relay race over 2 days with teams of 12 people (or 6 ultra runners). We are split into 2 vans, and over the course of the 2 days each runner has 3 running legs, around 20 miles total. Usually 2 daytime legs and one nighttime leg. The idea is to test yourself physically and mentally, running 3 times in 2 days with little to no sleep.

The reason I said I'd never do it is several, really:

1) I didn't want to ride (and sleep) in a van for 2 days2) I didn't want to be in a smelly van with sweaty runners for 2 days3) I didn't want to run in the middle of the night on the side of a highway

Well, here we are. I'm set to run Ragar del Sol with Team Sweatpink Arizona!!

So how am I getting past these issues?

Well the being in a van part, I'm just going to have to make the best of it and hope that my teammates are awesome (I've never met any of them!). I was told there may be designated sleep areas at community centers that we could crash at along the way.

As for the smelly/sweaty runner problem, we have a solution! Our team is being sponsored by Shower Pill, which are antibacterial cleansing body wipes for athletes. Hooray! Something tells me we really dodged a bullet there!

And lastly, the fear of being by myself in the dark in the middle of nowhere has some practical solutions as well. I'm going to have a reflective vest, headlamp, blinky lights, and my teammate's husband has offered to run as a pacer with any of us ladies who don't feel comfortable being alone on the road at night. Plus my nighttime leg "should" only be 5 ish miles. That seems doable. So how can I say no, right?

I'm hopeful for a great experience for this event next month. I hope to make some great new friends and cross another "I'll never" item off my list.

I'm always game to talk to other fitness-minded people about getting in shape and challenging ourselves. I love to connect with new people, learn new things, and get motivated by them! That's why when I learned about the #SweatPink #noexcuses challenge for 2015, I wanted to get on board!

I've been a part of the #SweatPink community for over a year now. I'm an official SweatPink Ambassador. It's a very supportive online community from @FitApproach whose goal is tobuild a sisterhood of women, dedicated to perpetuating fitness and health as legitimate tools and vehicles for female empowerment.

I'm even on the #SweatPinkAZ team running in the Ragnar Del Sol Relay next month! More on that in the next post :)

Here's how the challenge works:

Each Sunday we’ll send you an email with weekly prompts (workouts, healthy snack ideas and more)

We ask that you share your answer or interpretation of those prompts daily via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, your blog, etc using #NoExcuses #SweatPink for a chance to win fun weekly prizes from brands like Augusta Active, ShowerPill, Beaming with Health….etc etc…

Each day, we’ll all share what we’re doing and how we’re doing it on our social channels and help each other stay accountable, motivated and on top of our goals.

Every Friday, we’ll send around an email with winners, prizes and our favorite Tweets, IG posts and blog posts from the week (hello, link love and social sharing!)

In the summer of 2013, I was FINALLY able to lose 20 pounds. These were pounds that I had been battling for decades. No one was more surprised than me that I actually did it. I’ve tried so many things over the years, and have ALWAYS been active. But every time, I pretty much stayed the same. The truth is my activity level kept me from gaining more, but my eating kept me from losing the weight.

The weight dropped quickly, and steadily, for 3-4 months. I got to buy almost a whole new wardrobe! Almost all the weight came from my lower half. Looking in the mirror every day and stepping on the scale was like a dream.

And let’s talk about what losing 20 pounds did for my running! Wow! I went from being a 9:45-10 min miler to being an 8 ½ min miler and PLACING in and often WINNING my age group! Say What? I am so surprised that it had such an impact on my running, but I’m so grateful.

I kept it off for about 9 months. Then slowly it started creeping back. To date, I have put a little more than half back on. Talk about frustrating! Even though most of the new clothes I bought still fit, I just felt heavier.

Anytime anyone would ask me how I did it, I credited 2 things: 1) portion control 2) stopping eating 2-3 hrs before bedtime.

I didn’t eat anything special and didn’t eliminate anything. I continued to eat dessert almost every day. But I got out my measuring scoop and gave myself an exact (small) portion.

So it’s a new year and it’s time to get back on the horse. I started using my fitness pal to track calories and exercise. I’m happy to see a sinkful of dirty measuring cups and spoons. It means I’m on my way! Look for bi-monthly checkins, because I want to stay accountable. Cheers to a new year and getting back to the new and improved me!